Buzzin Football

My first response as I heard the news was shock, but the writing has been on the wall now for almost a year, it seems. Peter Kenyon had to back track on his denial of a bust up between Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich & Jose Mourinho towards the end of the last year; and at the beginning of this year there was further tension caused by Mourinho allegedly having no money in the transfer market to buy Ben-Haim even though Chelsea were clearly lacking cover in central defence – a decision that could have possible caused them to lose the Premiership title.

In January too, I heard a strong and convincing rumour on Radio 5 Live suggesting Guus Hiddink would replace Mourinho in the summer and that there were plans afoot to coax Frank Rijkaard away from Barcelona to team up with Hiddink and the recently appointed Frank Arnesson they had already poached from Tottenham. The Dutch connection appeared feasible and worth a bet.

The Dutch total football experience didn’t arrive at Stamford Bridge in the summer and neither did Jose Mourinho leave. However, Avram Grant, a little known Israeli who had previously managed Israeli teams Tel-Aviv and Maccabi Haifa, before almost guiding the Israel national team to the 2006 World Cup, did arrive after a short spell as Technical Director at Portsmouth.

Avram Grant was reported to be a close friend of Roman Abramovich and his arrival at Chelsea appeared to immediately rock the boat with Mourinho telling the media he would not have anyone interfering with his team selection.

So, the parting of the waves between Chelsea and Mourinho didn’t happen in the summer, but only several weeks into the new Premiership season and Week 1 of the Champions League, Mourinho has told the media he walked out on Chelsea, while Chelsea suggest it was by mutual agreement.

My thought is that if Chelsea appoint Avram Grant today then it is clearly apparent that Mourinho was pushed. I just can’t believe such a big decision as to who to appoint as the next Chelsea manager would be forced upon the club in such a short space of time.

The Premiership will miss Jose Mourinho, that is if he doesn’t decide to stay and fight the powers at Chelsea on the football pitch. If I was Martin Jol, I would be even more concerned about my job this morning.